Delayed justice and services for victims of abuse was one of the major issues raised by the national consultative dialogue on human trafficking, gender-based violence and drug abuse in Rwanda held on October 10.

A new research report released by the umbrella organisation for women NGOs in Rwanda (“Pro-Femme Twese Hamwe”) said that victims of abuse need to be given better and more timely services at centres handling abuse cases.

Isange One Stop Centres, established in 2009 currently provide free psycho-socio, medical and legal services to adult and child survivors of gender-based violence and child abuse. Jeanne d’Arc Kanakuze, the national executive secretary of Pro-Femme Twese Hamwe, said that despite the centers generally doing a good outreach job, there is a need to improve the services and especially reduce unnecessary delays.

The report shows that there is still a lack of adequate manpower to handle the high number of abuse victims visiting the Isange One Stop Centre; insufficient skills among staffs, and lack of sufficient information about the services provided at the centres are also a major hindrance.

Aggee Mugabe said that a third of the interviewees in the community were not aware of where to take victims of abuse, and others said that they had difficulties gathering evidence needed in a court case.

Dr Mugabe attributed this to ignorance, lack of knowledge and failure to access legal support, which at times results in abuse cases being dropped by lawyers.

David Wald the director of Rwanda for Justice, an organisation that has a lot of experience in issues surrounding gender-based violence in Rwanda, said that service provision is a challenge and they are thinking of hosting a national conference to highlight these issues.

At the recent National dialogue on human trafficking, gender-based violence and drug abuse, it was said that dealing with these problems requires concerted effort from the government and the public.

Supt Belline Mukamana, the head of gender-based violence desk and child protection said that most abuse crimes are reported late and evidence, in most cases, is lost, destroyed, expires or is simply forgotten.

Analytical views on existing laws and research on violence against women in Rwanda shows that gender-based violence remains a major societal problem today and the Minister of Justice Johnson Busingye said that personally he thinks there should be a review of the penal code to have more severe punishments for perpetrators of abuse.